


Mistletoe

by magpie_fngrl



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Violence, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 20:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2243313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magpie_fngrl/pseuds/magpie_fngrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam looked at Ronan and could see the same thought on his face: “This I would dance to. With you”.</p><p> <br/>It's the Aglionby Christmas dance.  The winter after the Dream Thieves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: homophobia, some violence, swearing

He slammed the door with force and it resounded hard in the empty flat.

Adam followed him in the room.       

“Let me see that”, he said.

Ronan pulled his bowtie ripping it in the process and threw it on the floor where Chainsaw flew to check it out. Adam took the medical kit out from the drawer and approached Ronan who was still seething and pacing the room.

“Sit down”, he said quietly and Ronan obeyed.

“Take your shirt off”, he asked then.

Ronan looked at him with a wild look, a mixture of rage and something else, but Adam looked back calmly. He had to make sure nothing had been broken. The fight had been bad.

Ronan shrugged his shirt off. The proximity of his naked chest and the strong arms flushed Adam’s skin, but he concentrated on the task and treated the cut lip, the bruises on the face and torso, the rapidly swelling black eye. Ronan didn’t wince, not once, while Adam was dabbing the wounds with the stinging ointment or looking for broken ribs.

“There”, he said and pecked gently Ronan’s cheek. He blushed – it was all so new for him and it felt incredibly daring acknowledging his desire in such a way. Ronan glanced sideways, eyes full of pain, and then he cradled his head.

“It was all my fault”, he murmured.

“No, it wasn’t”, Adam replied as he got up to pack the kit leaving Ronan on the bed. He glanced back at the boy who still held his head and looked downcast. All the fire in him had gone out and left a silent, sullen shell.

He sighed. As first dates go, it‘d probably qualify as a disaster.

It was the traditional Christmas dance for Aglionby students and their dates, the one major school dance before the senior’s prom. The three of them had never attended before and Adam didn’t really care about going this year either. Gansey had laughed when they were discussing it at Nino’s. “ _We’ll all go to the prom in May, that’s the real deal”_ to which Blue had gone pale as a ghost and insisted Gansey should go to the Christmas dance. No, he _had_ to go, it was important he didn’t miss this dance. She made such a big fuss of it that Gansey, a few days later, sent in the signed form saying he was going to attend and asked her to be his date. He mumbled something “ _Jane shouldn’t miss all the fun_ ” as if Adam hadn’t figured out what was happening. As if he couldn’t see the signs of a romance blossoming between them.

How could he miss those signs when he saw them first and foremost in himself?  

Later that same evening, Ronan showed up alone in St. Agnes looking extremely tense and way more vulnerable that he thought Ronan could possibly become and blurted out, “You going to the dance?”

“I wasn’t planning to”, Adam replied slowly.

“What I mean -”, Ronan paused looking even more uncomfortable, “what I mean is do you want to go to the dance with me?”

“As your date?” Adam’s voice had risen.

“Ok bad idea, sorry”. He tried to get up but Adam stopped him.

“No, I just … I’m still trying to figure things out, figure _us_ out and to show up together at a dance in front of the whole school …”

“No one else has to know”, Ronan replied. “We’ll just go there as friends, we don’t have to tell people… It could be a date, even if it’s in secret. _We_ will know and that’s enough”.

Adam said simply, “Okay then” and Ronan’s face relaxed into a smile.

Adam mused, “It’ll be our first date then”.

Stealing kisses in dark caves didn’t count as dates, nor did the furtive brushing of hands when no one was looking, or the cuddling on the bed when Ronan stayed over. No wonder Ronan was so tense; he’d probably been afraid that Adam had been experimenting all this time; exploring his sexuality, being bi-curious. Asking him out was Ronan’s way of saying he wanted more. Adam accepting meant they were taking the first step towards coupledom.

“You’d better wear something nice, Parrish,” he said trying to hide his previous awkwardness with a cutting remark, but the tenderness in his voice betrayed him.

“Dick,” Adam replied with the same tenderness.

“That’s my roommate,” Ronan said and kissed him.

Now, a week later, they were sat on Ronan’s bed, shoulder to shoulder, unspeaking, the only sound Chainsaw’s flutter of wings. He knew Ronan was replaying the events of the night in his mind.

Why did the mistletoe have to be there?

The night had started pretty well. Gansey’d left to pick up Blue, so Ronan and Adam drove to Aglionby in the BMW. They sat at a table at the back and Ronan took out his flask and spiked his orange juice with some vodka. Adam had refused the alcohol.

He looked around taking it all in. Far from the academic austerity of the classrooms, the decoration here was lush, colourful, extravagant. A huge Christmas tree in the back sported golden ornaments; garlands of red and green crisscrossed the walls; fairy lights blinked everywhere. Long stemmed glasses for their soft drinks and silver and gold centerpieces on their tables and velvet little cushions on the chairs. Everyone looked different in their dark suits, almost unrecognizable. He cast his eye on the dates his classmates had brought. Beautiful, rich, insipid girls. His eye snagged on Skov’s date, a statuesque black girl with a stunning smile and an even more stunning ass. What did it mean? The fact that he found her attractive? He was still dealing with all the nuances of his sexuality and it was confusing. He glanced at Ronan, looking like a god in black tie, who’d been staring at him.

“Seen anything you like, Parrish?” he asked with a smirk.

“You”, he replied and the smirk gave way to eyes trying to hide a wild joy.

“You look good yourself, Parrish”, he said.

“So we really _are_ on a date. Exchanging compliments - check. What’s next?” Adam teased.

“Hey, man, don’t make fun of it. I’ve never been on a date before”.

“Me neither”, Adam said.

The butterflies in his stomach would not keep still.

Gansey and Blue arrived shortly afterwards. Blue’s DIY dress stood out in the crowd. It was flamboyant, homemade, consisting of black lace and mint green satin, and it was so _Blue_ that she looked wonderful. Somehow her attire complemented Gansey’s somber black tie suit instead of clashing with it. She blushed when she saw Adam and shrugged as if to say “ _we’re only here as friends too_ ”. Yeah, right. Noah made an appearance as soon as Blue showed up and took a seat next to her.

The night turned out to be loads of fun. They had drinks and food and talked and laughed. Blue dragged Gansey to the dance floor each time the DJ played tunes she liked. They all escaped for a moment in a hallway, where Gansey called Malory on speakerphone and they leaned in to listen to him whine about the train service and how mince pies aren’t what they used to be. Blue described in detail Calla’s attempts to teach Persephone kickboxing which made Gansey and him tear with laughter. The music switched between old classic Christmas songs that Adam remembered hearing on his mum’s radio when he was a kid, and current hits that he recognized from Boyd’s singing at the garage. He allowed Ronan to put a drop of vodka in his drink. Blue got up to dance Beyonce with Noah. Everyone stared at the girl who, to everyone else, looked like she was dancing alone. Gansey gazed at her with a soft smile on his face and Adam looked at Ronan who had relaxed in his seat and wondered if his face had that soft smile too. Their knees were touching under the thankfully very long tablecloth and he brushed his hand with his.

“I don’t dance”, Ronan whispered close to his good ear.

“Me neither”, said Adam. “I’m happy to just sit here”.

Ronan said, “I’m happy”.

Perhaps it was this gazing that caught the attention of the three boys. He knew them as bullies and had always kept a safe distance. Being under the protective influence of Gansey had ensured he was safe from harm in the school hallways. Now, he noticed them staring and didn’t like the look that Greyson gave them or the sly smile of Martinez. They hadn’t brought dates. He looked away.

At half past eleven, Gansey and Blue got up to leave.

“Or the car will turn into a pumpkin?” Ronan said.

“Now you mention it, that orange colour can’t be a coincidence”, she laughed.

Gansey scowled. “C’mon, Cinderella, or Calla will have my head if you’re late”. They waved goodbye. Noah vanished silently. It was just them and empty glasses on the table. The three bullies had left. There were fewer couples on the dance floor.

“Should we go, too?” Ronan asked.

“Nah, stay a moment”, Adam said. He leaned back on his chair too. The drop of vodka had loosened him up. The music changed to slow and sultry. The song was old, very slow, very romantic. He looked at Ronan and could see the same thought on his face: “ _This I would dance to. With you_ ”.

Some couples were snogging on the dance floor, the teachers either turning a blind eye or being blind drunk as in the case of Mr. Jones, the History teacher.

All Adam could think was the boy next to him. _I need your love…_ the singer crooned. He stood up abruptly.

“Let’s go home”.

The hallway was cold and empty. Only their footsteps echoed in the darkness. Ronan stopped suddenly. He turned to Adam and pointed upwards.

They were standing under mistletoe. Ronan grinned but Adam shook his head.

“Not here”, he whispered.

“There’s no one here,” Ronan insisted. “Hey, it’s Christmas, it’s mistletoe and I want to kiss my date”. He blurred his words. Adam shouldn’t have let him drink all that vodka. He put his hand on Ronan’s chest, but the boy leaned close, his lips brushing his cheek.

“Not here”, Adam hissed again.

Ronan pouted in the most destructive way possible. Destructive because that pout took Adam’s heart and smashed it to pieces.

Destructive because, when he relented and smiled and let Ronan kiss him softly under the mistletoe, his fingers playing in his hair, their hearts beating a loud drum, they were seen.

Ronan was unlocking the BMW when the three boys emerged from the darkness.

“In all my life I’d never guess you were a pillow biter”, Greyson said casually. His friends snorted. Greyson’s narrowed eyes never left Ronan’s face as he approached them and stood between them and the way out. They were cornered.

Ronan was already tense, his face a mask of hatred.

“Get the fuck out of here, Greyson”.

“Or what?” his eyes glinted with malice. “Am I ruining your little homo date?”

Adam put his hand on Ronan who looked ready to jump on them. “Get in the car, let’s go”.

“Say, is that your bumboy, Lynch? Tell me, does he suck cock well?”

Nikolopoulos at the back snorted. “Hope you pay Parrish a little something for his troubles, ‘cause, man, he needs all the money he can get, am I right?”

That’s when Ronan pounced.

Three to one was an ugly fight but Ronan held his own pretty well at first. The three boys were large and strong but they were untrained and couldn’t match the ferocity of Ronan’s rage, his savage speed.

Adam couldn’t rush to his help. He was paralyzed. Violence had that effect on him. For a few moments he just stood there, unable to move, helplessly watching the three boys pound on Ronan and kick him. He gave back as much as he took, but even with knocking Martinez out, it was still two to one and he was losing. At one point, Nikolopoulos had him by the arms and Greyson, whose nose had been broken and was furious, punched him in the gut again and again. Ronan threw a wild kick at him which caught him in the knee. Nikolopoulos put his arm on Ronan’s throat to stop him and it was suffocating him and that stirred Adam into action, which was to pick a stone and hurl it at him. It skimmed his back, didn’t hurt him, but distracted him. Nikolopoulos turned back looking murderous at Adam, but he had let Ronan go, which was enough to allow Ronan to send him flying to the ground and then aim another kick at Greyson.

Talk and laughter was heard. People were approaching. The two boys picked up the unconscious Martinez between them. “This isn’t over, faggot,” Greyson spat at Ronan who was about to rush him, but was held back by Adam’s hands and the fact that Mrs. Patterson, the Maths teacher, was coming into view.

They were silent on the way back, Ronan driving way over the speed limit and bleeding on his suit.

So now they were sitting quiet and still in Ronan’s room. Gansey hadn’t come home yet which was a relief. Adam didn’t want to have to explain.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you under the mistletoe”, Ronan mumbled after those long moments of silence.

“It’s not your fault they’re assholes”, Adam said.

“Fucking filthy piece of shit cunts”.

“Yep, that too”.

Ronan sighed.

“School is going to be difficult next term”.

 “It’s always been difficult for me”, Adam replied. He was actually quite concerned by retaliations but didn’t want to show it yet. He was tired and Ronan was upset and their night had gone sour.

“This has been an awful date”, Ronan said after a while. He turned and buried his head in Adam’s neck. Then, he mumbled “We’ll never be able to dance a slow song together”.

The sadness in his voice broke Adam’s heart.

“Of course we will. And the date hasn’t ended yet,” he said. He kissed Ronan’s forehead, then pushed him back and fumbled with his iPod.

“I think [this was the one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiiyq2xrSI0)”, he said and pressed play.

The Unchained Melody poured from the speakers.

_Ooooh myyyy loooove, my darling…_

Ronan was still curled on the bed in a wounded, hurt position, but Adam knew it wasn’t the body’s wounds that were the problem. He pulled him up. Put his hands around his waist.

_… I’ve hungered for your touch…_

“Wait!” Ronan said, looking slightly more cheerful. He ran out in the dark warehouse and came back with mistletoe. “Noah insisted on putting up Christmas things”, he said. He tucked it on the lamp hanging from the ceiling and then pulled Adam under it and stroked his face and kissed him nice and slow. “The date is improving,” Adam whispered and kissed Ronan again. They held each other close and swirled slowly in the room, cheek to cheek, even after the song ended and the room filled with silence.


End file.
